v/v/
Lift your bottom lip so its inner edge (where the wet part meets the dry part) touches the very bottom of your top front teeth. Add vocal cord vibration as you blow air through.
How to pronounce value in American English
VAL·yoo
Start here
Americans pronounce value as VAL-yoo (/ˈvælju/). Stress falls on the first syllable — keep everything else short and quick. You'll hear it in sentences like "Use your view to review the value" or "The brave velvet voice voted for value" — more examples below.
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Sound by sound
Every sound in "value".
2 syllables, 4 sounds. Tap a syllable to jump to its row, then explore each sound's mouth shape and how it's made.
a/æ/
Drop the jaw noticeably. Keep the body of the tongue low and forward, and don't let the back of the tongue raise toward the soft palate. Pull the lip corners back slightly, almost a starting smile.
l/l/
Place the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge just behind your top front teeth, the same contact point as /t/, /d/, and /n/. The difference is what happens to the air: for /l/, you let it flow continuously around the <em>sides</em> of the tongue (that's why /l/ is called a lateral). Turn your voice on the whole time. Lips stay relaxed, no rounding or flaring. For the Dark L variant at the end of a syllable, also pull the back of the tongue up and back toward the soft palate.
yoo/ju/
Start with the tongue mid-front raised high, almost touching the roof of the mouth (but not touching). Glide into a tight lip circle as the tongue back lifts.
In real conversation
Hear "value" in the wild.
Click any sentence to see the full breakdown — every link, every reduction, every flap-T.
"Communicate the community value regularly."
kuh·MYOO·nuh·kayt dhuh kuh·MYOO·nuh·tee VAL·yoo REH·gyuh·ler·lee
"I value our friendship and I do not want to lose it."
ahy VAL·yoo owr FREHND·shihp and ahy doo NAHT WAHNT tuh LOOZ iht
"I value the diverse perspectives that each team member brings."
ahy VAL·yoo dhuh duh·VURS per·SPEHK·tuhvz dhuht EECH TEEM MEHM·ber BRIHNGZ
"The brave velvet voice voted for value."
dhuh BRAYV VEHL·vuht VOYS VOH·duhd fer VAL·yoo
"Use your view to review the value."
YOOZ yor VYOO tuh ruh·VYOO dhuh VAL·yoo
"We value your creativity and innovative thinking in challenging situations."
wee VAL·yoo yer kree·ay·TIH·vuh·tee and IH·nuh·vay·dihv THIHNG·kuhng ihn CHA·luhn·juhng sih·choo·AY·shuhnz
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Watch out
Common pronunciation mistakes in American English.
The textbook way isn't wrong — it's just not how anyone actually says it.
01
Stressing the wrong syllable.
Stress falls on the first syllable, not the others. Stretch VAL — keep everything else short and quick.
val·YOO→VAL·yoo
Questions
Questions people ask about this.
How is "value" stressed in American English?
Stress falls on the first syllable — say "VAL" with a longer, fuller vowel and keep every other syllable short and quick. The respell "VAL-yoo" marks the stressed syllable in capitals so the rhythm is easy to read at a glance.
Is the American pronunciation of "value" different from British English?
American English uses different vowel shapes, a relaxed retroflex R, and connected-speech tricks like flap-T and glottal-stop T that British Received Pronunciation generally avoids. The respell "VAL-yoo" reflects the casual American form; British dictionaries typically print a citation form with crisper consonants and different vowel choices.
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